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Ryan Thompson walked a batter, hit a batter, and struck out a batter en route to a save against the Mets on Wednesday.
Thompson came into a chaotic situation after Justin Martinez allowed a solo home run and walked back-to-back batters before being pulled without recording an out. He threw just five of his 14 pitches for strikes and his average fastball velocity was down from 100 mph to 96 mph. While that’s all very troubling, Thompson got the call to nail down the save and got some clutch outs. Him, Kevin Ginkel, and Shelby Miller would be in the mix for save chances if something is wrong with Martinez.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored on Wednesday against the Mets.
The Diamondbacks were mostly stifled by Brandon Waddell and the Mets’ bullpen in this one as Gurriel was the only member of their lineup to tally multiple hits. His ninth inning double set Arizona up to score some valuable insurance runs that proved vital after the Mets rallied in response, but fell just short. Still, Gurriel and his .181 batting average has put him in danger of losing his starting job.
Tyrone Taylor went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and a stolen base on Wednesday against the Diamondbacks.
Taylor gave the Mets life with his ninth inning home run and continues to play a tremendous defensive center field for them. Despite a poor .592 OPS on the season, he has a hit in his last three games and has started 14 of the 17 games since Jose Siri went on the injured list. The Mets have been trying Jeff McNeil in center field a bit to keep Luisangel Acuña in the lineup more often, but it’s clear that they’re sacrificing defense if so. Taylor steals enough bases with regular playing time to be borderline viable in very deep leagues.
Brandon Waddell allowed three hits and on runs with four strikeouts and no walks over 4 1/3 innings in a no-decision against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday.
The Mets called on Waddell for the spot-appearance as they’re in the midst of a 26 games in 27 days stretch and he performed as well as anyone could have hoped. He followed opener Huascar Brazobán the funky, left-handed Waddell was lethal over his 60-pitch outing. He retired the final eight batters he faced and forced a swing-and-miss with all five of his pitches. Those five pitches all got some real use too, as he threw each at least 12% of the time and he looked passable as a spot-starter.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said late Wednesday it’s possible Justin Martinez will undergo additional imaging and could require a trip to the injured list.
Lovullo added that Martinez is undergoing further evaluation after his velocity was down significantly during Wednesday’s relief appearance against the Mets. The hard-throwing 23-year-old was pulled in the ninth inning after giving up a solo homer to Tyrone Taylor and issuing consecutive walks to Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. It was Ryan Thompson who came on to escape the jam and pick up the save. It certainly sounds like the Diamondbacks are considering giving him some time off to rest and focus on getting back to his previous form.
Dillon Brooks lit up the Warriors with 24 points (7-of-13 FGs), one rebound, two assists and two three-pointers in Game 5 on Wednesday.
Brooks finally had a big game on offense in this series. He hadn’t been bad, but this was the first time he surpassed 20 points in a game this series. It was a great response from him after he allowed Jimmy Butler to take over in the second half on Monday and lead the Warriors to victory. Brooks will need to continue to shoot the ball like he did in this game for the Rockets to win in Golden State in Game 6 on Friday.